This study was conducted in samples taken from rat brains, but sleep is thought to induce backward
firing in human neurons, too.
Once the researchers identified these genes in yeast, they tested the human
equivalents in human neurons, grown in a lab dish, that also overproduce alpha synuclein.
Researchers at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies recently found that the DNA
sequence in human neurons can vary not only from that of the rest of the body but even from one brain cell to the next.
Using CRISPR genome
editing in human neurons, Krogan's team will delete all 600 genes, one by one as well as in combination, to determine how each one affects the neurons» health.
«By surmounting major
challenges in human neuron - based drug discovery, we believe this technique will be adopted widely in both basic science and industry.»
The researchers confirmed that,
in human neurons, the misshapen apoE4 protein can not function properly and is broken down into disease - causing fragments in the cells.